Gay is better than Kleiza and JJohnson, but not that much. JJ's numbers advanced stats (i.e. TS%, WP48) look not so different from Gay's in his first 3 years. Not saying that means he will be as good as Gay in 2 years, but for a max player I'd want a little more significant an upgrade that that, he's nowhere near the level of Igoudala or Kirilenko, if they're in play, for instance. Would way prefer Batum or just sticking with what we have and seeing if JJ can take another step forward rather than getting Gay.

I don't want Iguodala as a consolation prize. Keep the pick, Colangelo!

I agree that this sale reduces the chances of a deal happening immediately, given that the rumor was in part caused by Heisley's previous comments. However, even the richest owner could find the new NBA luxury tax system to be disadvantageous.

Plus, it's not like the deals were completely without merit from a basketball standpoint... it's not like we were offering Alabi & #56 for Gay. An offer of a couple good, young, cheap players, a top-10 lottery pick in a deep draft and significant cost savings that would allow the team to re-sign mulitple players without becoming a luxury tax team (Mayo, Speights, Arthur), isn't one to be dismissed as a pure salary-dump or cost-savings type of trade.

The timing sucks, but there's still more than two weeks before the draft and I'm sure the new owner is quite in the loop with regards to the curent situation. I wouldn't say a deal is completely dead, but rather the possibliity of utterly low-balling Memphis might be.

"Hey Robert, I'll give you this delicious doorstop, for that crummy old cupcake."

"Done and done!"

Haha!

Ok, so we have been acting as though we had an advantage, hence our fair/ideal offer of: Davis & JJ & #8 & #37 for Gay & #25.

What if we flipped that to a fair/ideal offer from Memphis, who still saw benefit of trading Gay: DeRozan & Davis & JJ & #8 & #37 for Gay? Toronto adds DeRozan to the deal and Memphis takes #25 out of the deal. That would give Memphis 2 additional assets (starting SF and additional 1st round pick), while still enabling them to save about $8M next season (enough to re-sign Mayo & Speights?).

What are your thoughts about that trade? Both from Memphis' and Toronto's perspectives? Still a good deal for the Raptors, or is the price suddenly too high?

Memphis Grizzlies owner Michael Heisley finally may have found a buyer for his NBA team.

The majority owner of the Grizzlies told The Commercial Appeal Monday that he has talked with billionaire Robert Pera but there is no contract "at this point." ESPN.com reported that sources say Heisley has an agreement to sell the Grizzlies to Pera for approximately $350 million with a formal announcement expected sometime this week. Both ESPN.com and The Commercial also reported Pera plans to keep the Grizzlies in Memphis.

Pera, 34, is a former Apple engineer who left in 2005 to start Ubiquiti Networks, a communications technology company that makes WiFi networking equipment. He became a billionaire in October 2011 when his company went public. A stock dip earlier this month has left Pera worth an estimated $980 million, but he has been described as a big basketball fan who loves to play the game.

Depends on how you viewed the interest in Gay... I am relieved because I thought it was going to cost us too much; however, if this turns our attention to Iggy then I am back in the concerned line. Just don't think either makes us an elite level team in a league that you only go as far as your best player.